BMO Capital Markets Cuts Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) Price Target to $27.00

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) had its target price reduced by BMO Capital Markets from $31.00 to $27.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

CUZ has been the subject of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $33.00 price target on shares of Cousins Properties in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Cousins Properties from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $37.00 to $33.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Cousins Properties from $34.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Cousins Properties from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.25.

Cousins Properties Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of CUZ stock opened at $22.77 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.89, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $24.71 and a 200-day moving average of $26.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Cousins Properties has a 1-year low of $21.03 and a 1-year high of $30.81.

Cousins Properties (NYSE:CUZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71. Cousins Properties had a return on equity of 0.85% and a net margin of 4.08%.The company had revenue of $255.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $252.18 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Cousins Properties has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.870-2.970 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cousins Properties will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Cousins Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 5th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 5th. Cousins Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 533.33%.

Cousins Properties declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, February 17th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the real estate investment trust to repurchase up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CUZ. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in Cousins Properties by 308.9% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,175,415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $133,422,000 after acquiring an additional 3,909,740 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cousins Properties in the fourth quarter valued at $53,063,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 153.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,170,386 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $91,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918,393 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cousins Properties by 984.5% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,542,384 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,763,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400,164 shares during the period. Finally, Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Cousins Properties during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,341,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.38% of the company’s stock.

About Cousins Properties

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in the development, acquisition and management of high-quality office and mixed-use properties. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company focuses on urban infill and suburban markets across the Sun Belt, with a strong presence in metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Nashville, Orlando and Tampa. Its core activities encompass full-service property leasing, asset management and construction oversight, serving a diverse mix of corporate and institutional tenants.

Founded in 1958 as a privately held real estate concern, Cousins Properties completed its initial public offering in 1992.